Emancipated by the last will and testament of Mary Cox, deceased, Richard Gregory asks to remain in the state. To be forced to leave his family and friends "would be to go into slavery, worse, beyond all comparison, than any which exists in Virginia." It would be, he adds, "no boon to him to sever the ties from his own flesh and blood - for no crime of his - but because of the freedom, (most dear to all) which has been given him in reward for his conduct to his mistress." Gregory writes that he is "aware" that "he belongs to an accursed race - but he is a human being, having the same feelings as those who are more favoured." And he concludes: "Your petitioner is a negro - no other than African blood flows through his veins- but he is 'a man for a[ll] that.'"
Result: Referred to committee for courts of justice.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
